HJS Friends of Israel Report FINAL_HJS Friends of Israel Report FINAL.qxd 06/02/2014 09:55 Page 16 ADDED VALUE: ISRAEL’S STRATEGIC WORTH TO THE EU AND ITS MEMBER STATES has also been a member of the EU’s space agency, The and, two years ago, it signed an agreement allowing closer co-operation in the future. Israeli space Scientific and technology has been integral in projects from the famed Hubble space telescope, to the Cluster and Technological Huygens spacecraft.108 In 2012, scientists at the European Organization for Dimension Nuclear Research (also known as CERN) discovered the elusive Higgs boson, the so-called ‘God particle’ that gives mass to subatomic particles and allows the Overview universe as we know it to exist. The 2013 Nobel Prize for Physics went to Britain’s Peter Higgs and to Over the past 20 years, Israel has grown into a François Englert, a Belgian who has enjoyed close ties scientific and technological dynamo; barely a month with Tel Aviv University for three decades. 109 In goes by without news of an Israeli start-up’s December 2013, CERN members voted unanimously acquisition by a Silicon Valley behemoth.102 Europe, to make Israel to make the first non-European by contrast, has struggled to stay competitive with the member state, and the Jewish state formally joined the worldwide tech hubs of America and Asia, and has club the following month.110 increasingly turned to Israel for guidance.103 Framework Programmes In Solana’s words, “I’d like to emphasize and Since 1996, Israel has also been the only underline, with a very big, thick line [that Israel non-European country associated with the Framework participates] in [dealing with] all the problems of Programmes – the overarching blueprint for research and technology”.104 Similarly, as European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said in European scientific research, whose current iteration, the seventh, is better known as ‘FP7’. 111 As of 2012, “A continent such as Europe, that invests heavily December 2012, some 1,400 Israeli participants have in innovation, needs to have close links with a ‘start-up participated in ‘FP7’ programmes, more than double nation’,105 like Israel.”106 the Israeli contingent in its predecessor, ‘FP6’. 112 Galileo, European Space Israeli contributions to ‘FP7’ have ranged from Agency, and CERN limiting infections in hospitals, to combating climate change, to natural-disaster relief.113 Israel is a world leader in satellite technology, and, since 2005, has been a key player in ‘Galileo’, 108 “Israel signs cooperation agreement,” European Space Agency, 31 January 2011, available at: http://www.esa.int/A bo Europe’s attempt to rival America’s Global ut_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/ Israel_signs_Cooperation_Agreement (accessed 31 October 2013). Positioning System.107 For the last decade, the country 109 “Francois Englert, Tel Aviv U. prof and Holocaust survivor, shares Nobel for physics,” JTA, 8 October 2013, available at: http://www.jta.org/2013/ 10/08/news-opinion/world/tel-aviv-u-professor-one-of-physics-nobel- 102 See, for example: Julie Bort, “The 20 Hottest Startups From Israel,” Business prize-winners (accessed 11 November 2013). 110 “Israel Admitted As Full Member of Nuclear Physics Lab RN,” JTA, 12 Insider, 7 May 2013, available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/ CE the-20-hottest-startups-in-israel-2013-5 (accessed 23 December 2013). December 2013, available at: http://forward.com/articles/189203/ 103 Author interview with Oded Eran, 19 November 2013. israel-admitted-as-full-member-of-nuclear-physics/; see also “Israel raises flag at CERN,” CERN, 15 January 2014, available at: 104 Raphael Ahren, “Solana: EU has closer ties to Israel than potential http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2014/01/israel-raises-flag-cern member Croatia,” Haaretz, 21 October 2009, available at: (both accessed 17 January 2013). http://www.haaretz.com/news/solana -eu-has-closer-ties-to-israel- 111 “FP7: the future of European Union research policy,” European Commission, than-potential-member-croatia-1.5700 (accessed 30 October 2013). 9 July 2012, availa ble at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/index_en.cfm 105 Dan Senor and Saul Singer, Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle (10 November 2013). (New York: Twelve, 2011). 112 For a full listing of Israeli contributions to FP7, see: “List of Projects in 7th 106 “Speech on the occasion of President Barroso’s honorary doctorate at the Framework Programme”, Delegation of the European Union to Israel, available University of Haifa,” European Commission, 10 July 2012, available at: at: http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/israel/documents/eu_israel/ http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-12-543_ ocale=en list_of_projects_7th_rtd_framework_programme_en.xls en.htm?l (accessed 23 December 2013). (accessed 2 December 2013). 107 “Cooperation between the EU & Israel on GALILEO: The European Global 113 For details of specific research projects, see: “Bar Mitzvah – 13 years of Positioning Service under Civilian Control,” Israeli European GNSS Info Centre, success,” The Israel-Europe R&D Directorate (2010), available at: available at: http://www.israel-gnss.co.il/category.aspx?id=17709 http://www.iserd.org.il/_Uploads/dbsAttachedFiles/Iserd_magazine_ (accessed 1 November 2013). English.pdf (accessed 20 November 2013). 14